Sebastian

Paris has been burning brightly for over a decade now as electronic music's luminary dance music factory, spawning chart-toppers such as David Guetta. Many from France's ripe scene find a spiritual and actual home in L.A. and it's not just the mainstream names that take root here. Southern California is developing as a fertile ground for the darker, more experimental side of house and electro (see new L.A. resident Quentin Dupieux, a.k.a. Mr. Oizo) put out by labels such as Ed Banger. One of that label's more interesting affiliated artists, Sebastian, drops by Hollywood's Avalon on Friday night.

The family feud otherwise known as Formula One's Red Bull Racing team heads to China, with all eyes on its drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Vettel, the reigning Formula One champion, and Webber could barely look at each other after the Malaysia Grand Prix two weeks ago, when Vettel snatched victory from his Australian teammate. Webber, 36, was leading Vettel in the race's closing stages when, in one of the unique traits of Formula One, his team instructed the drivers to stay put and conserve their tires until the race was over.

It is lunchtime at Soudani's, the most fashionable eatery in this Upstate village, the home town of actor Samuel E. Wright. The actor delivered an indelible performance in one of the country's hottest movies, and yet, not a head turns when Wright enters the restaurant. The oversight is forgivable, given the lack of physical similarity between Wright and his on-screen role. Wright is a tall, spindly black man. His character is 4 inches high and lobster red.

Sebastian Vettel has angered Red Bull teammate Mark Webber with a late pass and ensuing victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday. Vettel, the three-time reigning Formula One champion who now has a comfortable nine-point lead over Kimi Raikkonen atop this season's standings, collected his 27th career victory after evidently ignoring his crew to stay behind Webber, who was leading the race with 10 laps left. Webber, who says he was told to keep a slower pace to save tire tread, didn't have anything positive to say after finishing second.

Regarding Marion F. Himmel's comments about the animated feature "The Little Mermaid" (Saturday Letters, Dec. 16): To describe Sebastian the Crab as a "subservient black" is a bit silly. First of all, anyone who works for a king, in any capacity, is subservient, and, second, Sebastian is red. DANIEL BUHLER Long Beach

When her prep school eliminates girls' soccer, star player Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) switches teams all the way. Putting shared custody to work for her, she takes the place of her twin brother Sebastian (James Kirk) at his new school, their old school's rival, while he absconds to London with his band. Mom (Julie Hagerty), meanwhile, is too absorbed in the upcoming deb ball to notice, and Dad is out to lunch with his collar turned up.

An overwhelming majority of Chileans are happy with President Michelle Bachelet, grateful for the social safety net she has extended to women and the poor, and optimistic about the future. Then why did Eduardo Frei, the candidate for her ruling center-left Concertacion coalition, fare so poorly in Sunday's presidential election, finishing a distant second to right-wing billionaire businessman Sebastian Pinera in the first round of voting? For all the social progress under Bachelet, who leaves office in March because she is limited to one term under the constitution, there is dissatisfaction over Chile's economy and educational system.

Jim Watterson and George Martin have opened their magnificent 1927 George Washington Smith hacienda in Pasadena for countless bashes, but never one that included an impromptu graveside ceremony. Not until last Sunday night, anyway, when they hosted the post-performance party after the opening of "Do I Hear a Waltz?" at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Right-wing billionaire Sebastian Pinera won Chile's runoff presidential election Sunday, defeating former President Eduardo Frei, the man he bested by a big margin in December's first round of voting. Pinera's triumph ends a 20-year hold on power by Frei's Concertacion political alliance, which is also the party of incumbent President Michelle Bachelet. The coalition has held power since Gen. Augusto Pinochet's 17-year authoritarian regime ended in 1990. Frei conceded the race when -- with 60% of the votes counted -- Pinera had tallied 51.87%.

He was known as Dr. Death, a Michigan physician who helped his patients kill themselves. In doing so, Jack Kevorkian inflamed a nationwide debate in the 1990s over a terminally ill patient's right to die. And he served eight years in prison for second-degree murder for administering the lethal injection rather than helping the patient do it himself. Kevorkian began his crusade mindful of his own mortality. "You don't know what will happen when you get older," he said in a 1998 interview with "60 Minutes.

The Formula One season is set to start in Australia with Sebastian Vettel again the driver everyone else is chasing. Vettel is seeking his fourth consecutive Formula One championship as the international racing series opens its 19-race season Sunday with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. The 25-year-old German, who drives for Red Bull Racing, became the youngest three-time champion last year when he edged Ferrari's Fernando Alonso by three points in the title standings.

Sebastian Vettel captured his third straight Formula One championship Sunday, overcoming a first-lap crash to finish sixth in a Brazilian Grand Prix won by Jenson Button under pouring rain at Sao Paulo. "It's difficult to find the right words," said Vettel, who at 25 became the youngest three-time champion in F1. "It's unbelievable. I'm still full of adrenaline. It was an incredible race. " Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, F1's most successful driver, finished seventh in his final race after 19 seasons.

Lewis Hamilton wanted to make Formula One's return to the U.S. something special, for him and for racing. The Briton did just that Sunday, using a thrilling pass of Sebastian Vettel at the end of a long straightaway to take the lead, then holding off the German for the final 14 laps to win the U.S. Grand Prix at Austin, Texas, the first Formula One race on American soil since 2007. Hamilton won that race five years ago and made the move of the day to capture his fourth victory of the 2012 season.

With a third consecutive victory, Sebastian Vettel is suddenly closing in on a third consecutive Formula One title. The Red Bull driver won the Korean Grand Prix at Yeongam, South Korea, on Sunday to move ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso in the F1 championship standings by six points with four races remaining - erasing what looked like a commanding lead for the Spaniard only three weeks ago. Vettel started second on the grid behind Mark Webber...

The 2013 season at the Mark Taper Forum will feature plays by Bruce Norris and Sebastian Barry, as well as revivals of classics by August Wilson and Joe Orton. Actor Brian Dennehy will be featured in Barry's "The Steward of Christendom. "  In all, the new season, which will begin in February, will offer five productions, down from six in the current season. "Tribes," by Nina Raine, will kick off the season (Feb. 27-April 14) in a production directed by David Cromer. The staging comes from New York's Barrow Street Theatre, where the comedy currently is running.

San Sebastian's old town may be the most food-intensive neighborhood in the world, with street after street of pintxos bars and taverns and roaring restaurants, and hundreds of counters heaped with shellfish, hams and roasted meat -- the answer to a tapas lover's sweatiest dream. You stumble down the crowded streets of this Basque city, stopping in one bar for its anchovies, another for its famous cuttlefish, another for the delicious spider crabs, washing each down with a glass of cider or thin, acidic Txakolina wine.

Portland Mason Schuyler, the precocious and highly publicized child actress daughter of the late actors James and Pamela Mason, has died at age 55. Also a scriptwriter like her late mother, Schuyler died May 10 in Beverly Hills after a long, unspecified illness. From her birth Nov. 26, 1948, through her famous parents' bitter courtroom divorce squabbles in 1964, Schuyler was widely photographed along with them.

Nicky Silver sits on a bench in New York City's Union Square Park not far from the Vineyard Theatre, the site of last season's acclaimed production of his play, "Pterodactyls," and where his new work, "Raised in Captivity," opened to excellent reviews last week. A photographer snaps away, capturing the 34-year-old playwright in his usual sartorial splendor--penny loafers, white socks, khakis, vest, tie, shirt and overcoat.